Two years ago in a massive organizational upheaval, John Shaw relinquished his long-held title of Rams team president.

Even so, the running joke among some Rams Park insiders and NFL observers was that Shaw remained as powerful as ever in the organization with his new title of senior adviser/owners' representative. He was just out of the spotlight.

But Shaw's 31-year run with the Rams organization is now officially over.

"As of really the Super Bowl, I don't have an official role with the team," Shaw told the Post-Dispatch Thursday evening. "I've known since the sale (to Stan Kroenke) that it was happening at some point. We all figured the Super Bowl was a good point for it to officially end. And I notified the league."

Shaw remains good friends with controlling owner Kroenke, as well as siblings Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez (who together still own 31 percent of the team). So it would be naïve to think that Shaw won't still be asked for advice from time to time.

But he no longer is being paid by the team, and will no longer represent the Rams at league owners meetings.

"This was a joint decision by Stan and myself," Shaw said. "Stan provided me an opportunity to stay on if I so chose. But I just thought that this was a good time to do this. I appreciate the fact that he gave me my head and let me make a decision about officially ending the relationship. I felt it was the right time to do this. I really tried to do this gracefully and without any type of announcement."

Shaw joked that people would figure it out when he didn't show up at the league owners meetings in March and no longer had a bio in the Rams' media guide. But word started to leak out earlier this week that Shaw was terminating official ties with the club — and he confirmed that was the case in a phone interview from Los Angeles.

"Of course, I have mixed emotions," he said.

Shaw was preparing to leave for dinner with Rosenbloom when reached by the Post-Dispatch, and from the background Rosenbloom said, "It won't be the St. Louis Rams without John Shaw."

One thing is certain: There wouldn't be a "St. Louis" Rams without Shaw, who engineered the move of the team from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995. The move to the Midwest from the nation's second-largest market sent shock waves through the league, leading to a wave of franchise relocations and a boom in stadium construction.

At the time, team owners spoke with envy of "the St. Louis lease," the lucrative lease terms at the stadium now called the Edward Jones Dome that helped make the move possible. On the field, Shaw helped put together the dazzling Greatest Show on Turf teams that went to two Super Bowls — winning Super Bowl XXXIV.

"It's all starts with winning, and winning a Super Bowl and being there two out of three years was a great accomplishment," Shaw said. "But the move to St. Louis was a tremendous accomplishment. Some of the transactions, the Eric Dickerson trade, the Marshall Faulk trade. I thought the sale (to Kroenke) was a challenging transaction.

"I've had a career where I've been blessed with good things.

"But I would say obviously that winning the Super Bowl and moving the team were clearly right at the top of that list."

Not everything was rosy for Shaw in St. Louis. Not all the trades were great (See: Jerome Bettis to Pittsburgh, 1996). And Shaw was criticized for not being more hands-on in the mid-1990s when the Mike Martz-Jay Zygmunt feud shook the franchise to its core.

Shaw, who turns 60 in September, insists he's in great health. He lost considerable weight several years ago — and has kept it off — leading to rumors that he was ill.

He's not sure what the future holds.

"This has just happened in the last couple weeks, so I'm still involved in handling some of these (business) transactions with the team but really kind of in an unofficial capacity," Shaw said. "And I think over the next couple months that will end and I'll have a clear head about what I'm going to do.

"But I really haven't spent that much energy or time thinking about what's next. Fortunately I'm in a position to be very selective about what I do and when I do it. I've been blessed for the last 31 years working mainly for Georgia (Frontiere) and then Chip and Lucia, so I feel very fortunate at this point in my life to have the luxury of being selective about new opportunities."

-02-18-2011

BrokenWing

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Thank god.

-02-18-2011

MoonJoe

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Words that I have waited so long to hear!!

-02-18-2011

Flippin' Ram

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Now can we build a dynasty without any sudden setbacks?

-02-18-2011

AlphaRam

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

'bout damn time!

-02-18-2011

Dwight Frye

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrokenWing

Thank god.

that is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the headline.

In summary ..... THANK GOD! :D

-02-19-2011

general counsel

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

THis guy did great things for the franchise over the years. All good? Of course not. However, i doubt that there has ever been an nfl owner who knew less about football or business in general than Georgia Frontierre and Shaw was the guiding force behind the team for a very very long time. An easy poster child and target for many decisions, including the economic "tight fisted" approach during many years (which for all anyone knows was dictated by Georgia's lifestyle and other investments (especially a collection of illiquid real estate deals), Shaw never got any credit from the fans for the positive things, including people on this board. It never ceases to amaze me how when things go bad people think that the front office is terrible but when things go well its because the players are great.

Thanks to john shaw for 31 years of Ramming service to the team. In the business world, there is no such thing as an executive (let alone what was effectively a ceo) who does only good.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

-02-19-2011

r8rh8rmike

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Did Shaw do some good for the Rams over the years? Sure he did, but he did a lot more damage and regularly let the team get mired in mediocrity with bad decisions and horrible mismanagement. Like others, I'm glad to see him officially go.

-02-19-2011

general counsel

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

please specifically outline what people think that shaw was responsible for that was so destructive over the years.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

-02-19-2011

r8rh8rmike

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Quote:

Originally Posted by general counsel

please specifically outline what people think that shaw was responsible for that was so destructive over the years.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

Football decisions that led to a decade long death spiral in the 90's, the same for most of the 2000's, giving power to people like Jay Zygmunt and Samir Suleiman, letting things like the Mike Martz meltdown happen, running a St. Louis team by phone from Los Angeles.......

It's my opinion the guy did a lot of harm to the franchise over the years and again, I'm glad he's finally gone.

-02-20-2011

MoonJoe

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Quote:

Originally Posted by general counsel

please specifically outline what people think that shaw was responsible for that was so destructive over the years.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

These things come to mind...
The loss of Dickerson and Bettis
The loss of the team for the city of Los Angeles
The loss of Kurt Warner
Tony Banks
Rich Brooks
Linehan...

-02-20-2011

r8rh8rmike

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoonJoe

These things come to mind...
The loss of Dickerson and Bettis
The loss of the team for the city of Los Angeles
The loss of Kurt Warner
Tony Banks
Rich Brooks
Linehan...

Not keeping Dickerson happy was a HUGE tactical error, as was the situation with Ferragamo, then topping it off by bringing in Dieter Brock from Canada. Those were some frustrating years that Shaw did not handle well at all. What could have been......

Like many others, I'm happy that Shaw is gone. Along with what has been mentioned, once Shaw found ultimate success (which I liken to a blind squirrel finding a nut) he could not maintain that success. Rather than embrace that success and build upon it he gave up and offered the excuse that a high level of excellence simply could not be maintained in today's salary capped NFL.

:helmet:

-02-21-2011

AlphaRam

Re: Shaw gives up role with Rams

Sorry to be trite, but "You are only as good as your last game." I consider the Linehan dismantling era as his last game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by general counsel

THis guy did great things for the franchise over the years. All good? Of course not. However, i doubt that there has ever been an nfl owner who knew less about football or business in general than Georgia Frontierre and Shaw was the guiding force behind the team for a very very long time. An easy poster child and target for many decisions, including the economic "tight fisted" approach during many years (which for all anyone knows was dictated by Georgia's lifestyle and other investments (especially a collection of illiquid real estate deals), Shaw never got any credit from the fans for the positive things, including people on this board. It never ceases to amaze me how when things go bad people think that the front office is terrible but when things go well its because the players are great.

Thanks to john shaw for 31 years of Ramming service to the team. In the business world, there is no such thing as an executive (let alone what was effectively a ceo) who does only good.